John J. Metzler

UNITED NATIONS — Sudan’s embattled Darfur region has been cursed by the trauma of ethnic conflict and the continuing tragedy of displacement, refugees and hunger. As the decade long inter-ethnic conflict continues, the region’s violence continues but in a void of being largely forgotten and forsaken by the outside world.

Airbrushed from the headlines by both a myriad of other humanitarian crisis as well as the simple “donor overload” of a world community burdened by other wars, natural disasters and the undertow of endemic poverty, Darfur, once a cause celebre mobilizing international concern, has receded from the region despite the dusty graves of over 300,000 people.

Now comes word from the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) that a new wave of violence in Darfur has prompted over 250,000 people to flee their villages since the start of the year.

According to the Rome-based relief agency, “The decade–long conflict has escalated recently due to inter-tribal conflicts over agricultural land and resources, creating the largest wave of population displacement that the region has seen in recent years and straining WFP’s ability to feed vulnerable families.”

The roots of Darfur’s conflict rested in a bid by Sudan’s largely Arab-Muslim dominated government to grab land from nomadic black Africans in the vast area. Indeed ethnic cleansing became part of a conflict in which both sides are Muslim. The notorious Arab Jangaweed, the camel-borne thugs, carried out many of the attacks on behalf of the central government.

Still the rulers in Khartoum, led by indicted war criminal Omar Bashir, were able to fend off the worst of international sanctions.

Largely due to Sudan’s major petroleum exports, and correspondingly close links with the People’s Republic of China, the regime has weathered much of the political fallout of its actions. President Bashir faces two international arrest warrants from the Hague-based International Criminal Court for charges of genocide and war crimes stemming from the Darfur conflict.

But while Darfur has faded from the headlines and humanitarian agenda, the World Food Programme has been feeding 2.7 million across Darfur in 2013, including 1.4 million living in camps. According to the relief agency, with the new displacements, the number of people needing assistance is expected to climb to nearly three million people.

According to WFP’s Sudan country director Adnan Khan, “This conflict has been going on for a decade now and the escalation that we’ve seen during the first half of the year has not only created greater needs, but has also hindered our ability to reach all those in need due to insecurity.”

Funding remains a perpetual problem as WFP has only raised $180 million out of its operational budget of $397 million to feed an estimated 3.9 million people in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan.

In the meantime the Security Council has renewed the mandate for the African Union/UN multinational peacekeeping force UNAMID in Darfur. An African Union diplomat conceded the “situation remains volatile.” The Council passed a ten page resolution which “Demands that all parties to the conflict in Darfur immediately end the violence including attacks on peacekeepers, civilians and humanitarian personnel.”

Today the 19,000 multinational UNAMID peacekeeping operation is deployed in the vast area the size of France. While mostly African-staffed, troops from China, Pakistan and South Korea are part of the mission which has brought some stability to the region.

Serious attention shifted from Darfur in 2011 when Sudan finally gave independence to its rebellious southern region where nearly two million people were killed in a long-running conflict between the central government and Christian and animist factions. South Sudan became independent in July 2011 and since has sadly fallen victim to its own factional and political strife.

Even after the secession of its rebellious southern region, Sudan is still more than twice the size of Texas.

There is a curious silence in the UN and among Western governments, notably the Obama administration, concerning the quiet crisis in Darfur. The upcoming UN General Assembly in September would be a good time for states to refocus their political and humanitarian spotlight on this ongoing but overlooked tragedy.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for WorldTribune.com.

  Adnan Khan, Darfur tragedy obscured by mitigating factors: Oil, Jangaweed, Omar Bashir, Sudan-China ties, World Food Programme